HEIFERPLUSI looked into it, and the product has been fully vetted by several bull studs, and they have dismissed it because of the additional semen handling required. Most people can't pull all this off in a sanitary, temperature controlled setting and still achieve satisfactory results on the conception rate, and then the product itself doesn't always work.

--- Buckeye seems like a one man wrecking crew out to rid the world of injustice. ----- Mayjay

…I was told that Heiferplus has to be in the semen for at least 15 minutes, but for AI you are supposed to have the semen thawed and the cow bred within 15 minutes. So the extra semen handling with Heiferplus will probably hurt conception rates due to the time elapsed between thawing semen and depositing it in the cow.

Re: …HeiferplusI spoke to Gb Bulls about it the oher day, and the of the first 29 calves born in the UK, 21 are female.

Conception results have seen between 5 and 15% above usual herd averages.

There are a few people using it in NI, but not long enough to have calves.

The first time or two that people have used the vials they can find it tricky, but once they have some practice it becomes more straightforward.

I am selling it in NI for GB Bulls.

We are also adding it to semen from our stud. This removes handling concerns, you just thaw the straw for 15 minutes and AI as normal. Doing comparisons under the microscope certainly suggests that it has some positive effect on the semen. We will only really know when we have widespread on farm results.

Re: …HeiferplusThanks Alan, does any one have any results from the US as it's been available there for quite a while now? Has it's use taken off or is still sexed semen the answer for heifer calves. I see heiferplus as a big help when using the top bulls that are not available sexed and on older cows that struggle to hold to sexed.

Re: HEIFERPLUSWhy would older cows struggle to hold to sexed? Are you referring to getting pregnant in general or early embryonic loss? EEL would have nothing to do with the semen if it is sexed or not if you ask me, once the embryo is there.

Re: HEIFERPLUSIt is recommended in the UK at least to only use sexed semen on maiden heifers. Or only on milking cows that have had a trouble free calving, aren't milking too heavily, and have a good fertility record.